Filming the Sub Races

6/28 – 6/29

A team getting ready to bring their sub down. You can see the race supervisor in his stand on the left.

AAH!! Cameras, cameras, and more cameras!! Oh..and submarines..Lottttssss of submarines! The past couple of days I spent the majority of my time in the water helping Nick Caloyianis take pictures and film the submarine races. Nick is one of the associates of the Boston Sea Rovers, and has worked with the Discovery Channel, National Geographic, and a whole slew of other organizations over the course of his career. It was absolutely fantastic working with him at the submarine races! He taught me how to operate both of his cameras, and explained how pictures and videos are all about lighting. So, I would go down and shine light where he needed me to, and then he also let me use the cameras! I got some really neat footage of the Navy dive team loading both of their drivers at one point.It was so cool to actually be down there watching the submarine races underwater.

A team bringing their sub down to the starting line!

The process was really neat. Each team would swim their sub out on top of the water to somewhere behing the starting line. Then they would swim the sub down to the bottom and get it stabilized. Once they were ready, another diver brought the driver down to the sub using their octopus. The drivers are only wearing a wetsuit and mask because they breath the air in the sub, and they have to pedal with their feet. Once the driver was laoded and comfortable in the sub, a team member closed the hatch, and then another member swam up to the surface to let the race supervisor know that the sub was ready to race. Down on the bottom there would be a team member holding up the front end of the sub and another holding up the back end. The race supervisor would give them the “Go,go, go, go!” signal, the driver would start pedaling, the team members holding the sub would “hit the floor,” and off the sub would go! The sub passed through several timing gates, and then the finish line. At the finish line there were a bunch of navy divers waiting in front of an enormous net to catch and stop the subs. Then they got the driver out and brought the sub to the surface where team members were waiting to tow it back so they could do it all again! It was awesome!

One of the teams towing their sub back after a race.

One of the days that I was helping Nick film, we swam all the way down to the catch net to film that part of the race. It was kind of spooky waiting down there with this huge net and blackness behind you, looking into murky water, waiting for a submarine to come charging towards you. It was one heck of an adrenaline rush when the sub came into sight and all the divers went after it. Once we got some good shots it was time for the long swim back to the dive station. Nick had been using a scooter (one of those little missile looking things that you hold onto and it pulls you through the water) with a camera attached to the end to get some side footage of the subs as they were racing, and he let me ride it on our way back! IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! I need one! 😀 It was a great way to polish off my time filming with Nick. I also got some great shots with my Olympus and Gates cameras! Tomorrow is the last day of the races, and then we have the banquet and find out who won all the categories!